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Monday, September 30, 2013

Here is the second in my series of three “other” Brett species tastings (B. custersianus last week, and B. nanus next week). Brettanomyces naardenensis was originally isolated from a soda producer. The exact context is not available, but it is certainly the strangest source of a brewing microbe I’ve used. The culture I used in all of these beers came from East Coast Yeast.

This tasting is a good example of how Brett can continue to slowly change a beer in the bottle. When we tasted through all of these beer at Modern Times, the saison bottle conditioned with B. naardenensis was the least popular of the six. It was strongly “footy” as someone described the unappealing sweaty aroma. A couple months later the beer is much better, mellower, and actually pleasant!

Taste – Surprisingly tart for a 100% Brett beer. It is certainly not a full-blown sour, but tangy. Tastes lactic to me, but it is hard to be sure. Otherwise the flavor isn’t hugely exciting, although I get a bit of the strawberry that the ECY description mentions. A bit too sweet. The finish is slightly goaty

Smell – My first impression was that the smell balanced the peppery phenolics of the saison yeast (WY3711 – French Saison) with additional fruity and phenolic from the Brett. However, when I opened a bottle of the “clean” saison (same batch, with no Brett added at bottling), it had little of the character of the version with B. naardenensis.

Taste – For how weird the 100% fermentation with this strain is, the flavor when bottle conditioned is pretty restrained. The inverse of the way things normally work. Not much fruit or classic Brett character. I know some people hate the descriptor “rustic,” but that is exactly what this beer is. The Brett provides an edge of interesting hard-to-pin-down (Spice? Mineral? Fruit?) character without getting in the way.

Mouthfeel – Thin, crisp, very good medium-high carbonation.

Drinkability & Notes – The B. naardenensis did a very nice job as a saison enhancer, boosting the character of the primary yeast without making it taste like a “Brett” saison. I'll be interested to see how this beer continues to change.

13 comments:

Cole
said...

I'd be curious to see a follow-up on this brett strain in the future as Al mentions it is quite unpleasant until after ~6 months of aging. This is a bit shy of that time frame, so it would be interesting to see if something develops in the next few months.

Yeah it was a real change-over and was well - received at the NHC earlier this year. Very acidic but not puckering, estery. Started off acetic with a mousy-taint. Six months was completely different. Al B.

Great info on the more esoteric wild yeasts! I've exhausted the bourbon flavor out of a used barrel and now want to use it for souring. I tend to make more lambics than Flemish sours. So, would you recommend just Brett. lambicus to start?

I like a blend of microbes. You'll need some lactic aid bacteria (Lactobacillus and Pediococcus) for acidity. I also tend to do multiple Brett strains for a long-aged sour beer. Something like Wyeast Lambic Blend is an easy place to start, but I'd add the dregs from a bottle or two of your favorite gueuzes to add depth.

These are my only experiences with this strain, so it is hard to say with any certainty how your batch would turn out. That said, with a similar beer and a similar yeast, I have no reason to believe it wouldn't produce a similar set of flavors. Let me know how it turns out!

Have you revisited these beers at all? I'm curious if they have changed much since the first tasting.I'm interested to know if the 100% version has become more enjoyable and if it's become more expressive in the 2nd version.Thanks!